As if speaking of her conjured her up, Nanny came to the doorway.
“Now, Miss Purilla,” she said, “I won’t have my patient tired out by your chatter.”
“I am not in the least tired,” the Earl said quickly, knowing that it was not quite true.
“You just shut your eyes, sir,” Nanny said firmly, “and you’ll find you are asleep almost before you can say ‘Jack Robinson’!”
The Earl opened his lips to say firmly that he had no intention of sleeping.
But almost before he realised what was happening Purilla had been shooed out of the room, the blinds were drawn to keep out the light and he found himself, somewhat to his annoyance, drifting away into dreamland.
*
It was late in the afternoon before the Earl saw Purilla again.
The doctor had called and told him that he must rest, Nanny had broug
